Part-Time MBA Still Tops Among Public Northeast Ohio Universities

04/09/2013

Graduate students apply classroom knowledge to collaborate on real-world business projects.

The University of Akron’s College of Business Administration (CBA) again ranked first among public universities in Northeast Ohio, according to U.S. News and World Report’s U.S. News2014 Best Graduate Schools rankings. The rankings are intended to help students who are considering graduate school to understand the many programs available.

“While our ranking slipped slightly this year, from 123 last year to 129, the real story is that we improved on our overall score according to U.S. News’ methodology,” says CBA Dean Ravi Krovi, Ph.D. “Ranking organizations provide great touchpoints for how we compare to others in and out of our peer group. However, we are clear about how we need to prepare students who want to thrive in business. Everyone in the CBA – from administration and staff to our corporate advisory boards and excellent faculty – is always looking for better ways to provide the best education and the most meaningful, relevant experiences in and out of the classroom. When we do this well and help our students become capable professionals and business leaders, our rankings will be solid.”

Bill Hauser, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing and Interim Assistant Dean and Director of Graduate Business Programs states, “While I’ve been in my position as director of graduate programs for less than a year, the talent of our students is apparent to me, and it’s reflected in this ranking. As our recently restructured graduate programs continue to get traction and evolve, we will only gain momentum and additional recognition for the quality of our students and programs. This ultimately benefits every past, present, and future student who chooses us for their business education.”

U.S. News and World Report Ranking Methodology

U.S. News and World Report assess only those business schools that are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International and have at least 20 students enrolled in a part-time program. However, for a number of reasons, not all of those schools receive rankings. This year, 282 schools were ranked.

The ranking methodology for business schools include a 50-percent weighting on a school’s reputation among its peers, which is based on a survey of business school deans and graduate program directors. Five additional factors were weighted for the part-time students entering in fall 2012 – GMAT or GRE scores; undergraduate GPA; work experience; and the percentage of the fall 2012 MBA enrollment that attends part-time.